Bruno Van Mele is full professor in Chemical and Materials Engineering and head of the research group Physical Chemistry and Polymer Science (FYSC). He graduated in 1975 as Chemical Engineer and obtained a PhD in Applied Sciences in 1982. He is chairman of the educational department Materials and Chemistry (MACH) and of the educational council Chemistry and Materials (ORCM).
He is teaching Physical Chemistry for 3rd Bachelor VUB students, and Polymer Science and Technology for VUB, ULB and international students in the frame of Brussels Faculty of Engineering (BRUFACE). He is vice-chairman of the Faculty commission on International Relations (FACIR) and exchange coordinator for Materials and Process Technology.
His research is focusing on structure-processing-property relationships in multifunctional polymer systems, including nanocomposites, nanostructured thin polymer films and coatings, polymer blends and solutions, organic photovoltaics, and selfhealing polymers. Advanced Thermal Analysis is a main characterization tool.
The Nanoforce SIBO program focuses on lightweight and multi-functional polymer-steel (fibre/cord/plate) hybrids and composites based on aligned carbon nanotubes (aCNTb's) to allow for breakthrough materials resulting in: Energy Savings (through novel lightweight structural materials), Optimal use of natural resources (by reducing energy consumption during manufacturing and use of products made ...
A new class of polymeric materials has been developped by introducing reversible covalent bonds into covalently cross-linked polymer network systems, resulting in reversible covalent polymer network systems (RCPNS). In this project the reversible covalent bonds are thermally reversible bonds, e.g. by means of the Diels-Alder reaction between furan and maleimide function groups.
Polymer ...
This SBO-project NAPROM is part of the SIBO network SHE and is focusing on the development of novel active protection coatings for metal surfaces, based on self-healing polymers combined with corrosion inhibitors.
The main goal of the project is to unravel nanomorphology formation at the molecular level and its effect on device performance beyond the state-of-the-art by an integrated experimental effort and a unique combination of equipment and expertises, aiming at the study of blends via advanced thermal analysis, solid-state NMR, and X-ray diffraction and ptychography 3D imaging techniques, combined ...
The aim of this project is to contribute to the fundamental insights into the mechanisms and criteria that affect the efficiency and stability of 'exciton' solar cells, based on the 'bulk heterojunction' concept. In this type of photovoltaic cells, foto-induced excitons (hole-electron pairs) that are formed in a donor phase of a phase separated system, must diffuse towards the (nano)interface ...
